Whitehorse Mining Initiative hailed a success

The signing of the Whitehorse Mining Initiative (WMI) Leadership Accord is a major achievement that will have a significant impact on Canadian mining practices and policies.

That is the consensus of the mines ministers from Ottawa and the provinces who signed their names to the accord at the mines ministers conference held here this month.

The WMI took two years and $1 million to formulate — with input from mining and environmental groups, aboriginal peoples and government — and contains more than 150 recommendations for environmental management and regulations, land use, human resources, finance and taxation.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Anne McLellan’s assessment of the accord as “a historic accomplishment” was echoed by most of those present at the signing, including mining representatives.

“There was considerable debate and some pretty fierce arguments,” Falconbridge (TSE) President Frank Pickard told The Northern Miner. “But a consensus was developed and I think people have a commitment to implementing what is in the initiative.”

The recommendations include eliminating recovery of administrative costs for environmental assessment from proponents of new

projects; more stringent, site-specific standards and standardized monitoring programs to improve environmental

assessment data; joint government-industry mechanisms

for financing reclamation of “orphaned” mine sites; provision of financial assistance to cover the costs of closure plans; and development of a single environmental assessment process.

John Carrington, vice-president of Noranda Minerals and a member of the WMI leadership council, called the accord a consensus that enhances the relationships among the various stakeholders. It is not, he stressed, a legally binding document.

“There will still be disagreements and there will still be battles — I’m quite certain of that,” Carrington said. “But this accord recognizes a broader context for everything —

be it industry, the environment, aboriginal groups

or government — and (it recognizes) that you can’t take a position that excludes these other things.”

One major concern throughout the WMI talks was the designation of protected areas. According to Carrington, the industry made it clear, in a “no-holds-barred” discussion in July, that “it doesn’t want

to see its opportunities reduced but, instead, expanded.” To this end, mining representatives worked with environmental groups to reach a

compromise on the speed with which certain areas should

be designated as off limits to developers.

Recommendations include evaluation of mineral information inventories “prior to the final selection of a protected area” and a determination of the impact on stakeholders of interim protection measures, such as full closure or restricted access to proposed developments.

For its part, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) endorses the WMI as a “new strategic vision” for both the Canadian mining industry and the group of 150 Canadian communities that rely on mining for their livelihood. MAC president George Miller outlined several business problems facing the Canadian industry, including de-clining reserves, stagnant exploration, regulatory complexities and increased compliance costs. But he said the WMI proves that Canada possesses the appropriate methods for resolving substantial conflicts.

Miller laid particular emphasis on the importance of mineral exploration incentives and improved tax polices for mine reclamation. Specifically, he called for deferral of taxes on earnings from mine reclamation funds until they are withdrawn for reclamation work, in much the way that taxes on registered retirement savings plans are deferred until the funds are liquidated.

It is still unclear whether the WMI will avert often bitter acrimony over issues such as British Columbia’s decision last year to set aside 1 million hectares of remote wilder-

ness in the Tatshenshini-Alsek watershed in the province’s northwest. Geddes Resources (TSE), which owns copper mining rights in the area, says that process was marred by the provincial government’s bypassing of the environmental review process.

Ric Careless, representing the conservation sector at the conference and himself a driving force behind the Tat-

shenshini decision, said the environmental movement participated in the WMI process in order to demonstrate its goodwill towards the Canadian mining industry.

While conceding that environmentalists and industry will always have differences, Careless said: “We now have the tools and the means of dialogue to deal with cents these differences], which we didn’t have before. We really believe mining can thrive in Canada in an environmentally clean way, and I think the industry is saying the same thing.”

Yet Pickard said that actual mechanisms have yet to be developed which would both attract investment for Canadian mining and, at the same time, ensure that work is carried out in an environmentally sensitive manner. A lot of questions remain unanswered and the federal minister herself admitted that federal and provincial funding is limited, Pickard said. “So significant input of volunteer time is required from the groups involved,” he said.

The provinces and participating groups have agreed to spend the next few months examining the recommendations of the accord in greater detail to decide how they might be implemented.